Lee Dukes has been named president of Principal Wellness Co., a subsidiary of Principal Financial Group Inc. Dukes will lead the company’s wellness business out of Indianapolis, with direct oversight of all wellness products and services. Dukes has nearly 30 years of wellness experience, most recently as senior vice president of client services and wellness solutions at Alere Medical Inc. in Dallas.

Jerry Yang, co-founder and CEO of Yahoo Inc., announced late yesterday that he will step down from his current position as soon as Yahoo finds a replacement, the Associated Press reported. Yang will assume the title of “Chief Yahoo,” a title he held before replacing Terry Semel as CEO in June 2007, and will remain on Yahoo’s board of directors. Yang’s tenure has been marked by his refusal to sell the Internet search company to Microsoft Corp. for $47.5 billion. Though Yang publicly expressed his desire to remain head of the company, Yahoo’s board also faced growing pressure to remove him from his post as the company’s shares fell to their lowest levels since early 2003.

The Des Moines chapter of the Association for Women in Communication will host a luncheon tomorrow at 11:30 a.m. at the David L. Miller Conference Center in West Bank, 1601 22nd St., West Des Moines. Hillary Brown, social media strategist for Lava Row, will talk about her experience in the social media industry and her return to Iowa after spending six years in Los Angeles. The cost is $20 for members, $25 for nonmembers and $30 at the door. Register to Joyce at jperkins@peodsm.org.

Drake University has received two gifts totaling $2.5 million to endow a chair in the School of Journalism and Mass Communication and a music professorship in the College of Arts and Sciences. Drake alumna Peggy Fisher and her husband, Larry Stelter, donated $1.5 million to Drake’s magazine program to establish a faculty chair in magazine journalism. The other $1 million was donated to Drake’s music department by alumnus Fred Turner and his late wife, Patricia, to establish a professorship for jazz studies.

Pepsi Bottling Group Inc., the world’s second-largest soft-drink distributor, lowered its 2008 earnings forecast and said it will eliminate 4.6 percent of its total work force, which spans North America, Europe and Mexico, Bloomberg reported. Pepsi Bottling, which is 33 percent owned by PepsiCo Inc., will cut 3,150 jobs, most of which are in Mexico.